CO129-350 - Public Offices - 1908 — Page 161

not eno

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> SIX Pduai

3 NO

other words I consider the Director of Public Works (under

orders of course) was guilty of a breach of etiquette in

the method adopted.

I have never been asked to make a statement with

regard to these bridges, nor to say whether in my opinion

the crack is serious or no. His Excellency seems to have

jumped to the conclusion that the matter is serious and his

anxiety has in no way heen lessened by the extraordinary

advice of the Honourable Director of Public Works to dis-

mantle bridge No. 4 to the bottom of the founds. I do not

think that Mr Williams will concur in that proposal.

Urgency cannot in my opinion be pleaded as an

excuse for this procedure, I consider there was plenty of

time to have informed you on the subject! It will take

some time before any thing definite can he done, as the

weighting of Bridge 4 for instance has to be done slowly

and no

advice of any value can be given till the result

of putting the full weight on the bridge is known.

The Executive Engineer mentioned in paragraph 2

of the Honourable Colonial Secretary's letter (enclosure A)

instead of coming to me or my assistant and asking for

coolies to work the boring tools, went direct to the sub

contractor of Messrs Leigh and Orange thereby ignoring

both the Engineers and the head contractors. This has had

a very bad effect on my authority on the works and that of

my Assistant Engineer, A China man is very quick to notice

any thing of this sort, and it is rumoured pretty freely on the works in Kowloon that I and my assistant are to he

dismissed for incompetence on account of Bridge 4.

Such reports (unfounded though they may be)

spread about very quickly and make it very difficult to get

orders